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. 1965 Sep;5(5):669–686. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(65)86745-5

A Quantitative Analysis of the Voltage-Current Relationships of Fixed Charge Membranes and the Associated Property of "Punch-Through"

H G L Coster
PMCID: PMC1367766  PMID: 5863437

Abstract

A theoretical analysis of the voltage-current relationship is carried out in a membrane consisting of two fixed charge regions, of opposite sign, in contact. This is achieved by applying the diffusion equations to this system in conjunction with the Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The latter has been successfully applied by Mauro to determine the profiles of the electrostatic potential in his treatment of the capacitative property of such a system. It is shown that the system displays the property of rectification and is very similar in many respects to a solid state P-N junction diode. It is also shown that for the case of reverse bias, an electrical breakdown phenomena can occur. This is referred to as the “punch-through” effect. “Punch-through” was observed in experiments on the electrical characteristics of the membranes of Chara australis and Nitella sp. The experimental results are discussed in relation to the theoretical analysis.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Mauro A. Space Charge Regions in Fixed Charge Membranes and the Associated Property of Capacitance. Biophys J. 1962 Mar;2(2 Pt 1):179–198. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3495(62)86848-9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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